


conditional

by OIDIAproductions



Category: The Lorax (2012)
Genre: Abuse, Gen, Manipulation, i cant believe she has a tag, if you've seen the movie you know what shes like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OIDIAproductions/pseuds/OIDIAproductions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pretty lies, the ugly truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	conditional

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like this doesn't actually make any sense at all but i still.. like it.. a little.. idk idk idk

The Once-ler always knew his mother’s love was conditional.

He was a master of self-deception – oh, certainly – but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t convince himself her love was true. He could delude himself into thinking that cutting down the trees didn’t matter, that breaking the Lorax’s promise was just fine and just business, and that he was doing the right thing – but he could not tell himself that she really loved him.

But he pretended. He pretended that he could _make_ her love him, somehow, someway.

Every day, he tried his hardest to impress her. He served himself on a silver platter to her, saying silently, my fate depends on what you do to me. If she told him that she was proud, that she loved him, that he was her favorite child, his heart fluttered. If she turned her nose up on him, told him she was disappointed or annoyed or let down, it sank into his stomach.

She was lying when she said anything remotely close to motherly, but he knew she was telling the truth when she insulted him. That was what she did best, after all. Manipulate him with sweet-laced lies and venom-veined truth.

But he kept on, because he’d wanted this his entire life, her approval – and no matter how artificial her words were, he would embrace them.

And he tried his damn hardest to play pretend, to go by her conditions, because maybe if he did just enough of this or gave her just enough of him, something in her would change and she would love him. He told himself he could, and he had to believe in himself, at least.

Because, at the end of it all, he was the only person who did.


End file.
